I am sitting behind and several rows back from the defendant. I rejoice in my inventory of her: involuntary platinum blonde-tipped, salt and pepper ombre hair, deflated lips in need of re-plumping and colorless, jagged nails, sans jewelry, and a dated synthetic pantsuit, which made it obvious to all that the commissary does not carry Spanx.
Ms. Robinson now looks like the hag she is.
I am incognito, as is Grace, who is sitting to my left. We anxiously await the jury's verdict. Christian is home with the kids. Taylor waits in the corridor.
The courtroom is not packed. There are a few reporters, but they are there simply to cover a wealthy, much-older-female-molesting-a-teenage-boy story, which is still a novelty, apparently. Christian was afforded the legal protections of a minor, since he was a minor at the time of the molestation, and his name used for trial purposes was a pseudonym, which induced him to testify.
That and the discovery that Ms. Robinson had plenty more boy toys, before, during, and after Christian …
He testified via closed circuit television from a nearby room and his image was blurred from view. No one has linked Christian Grey to this prosecution. The security measures allay some of his concerns, since he puts a premium on his privacy.
The birth of Theodore and Phoebe made Christian begin to realize why Grace was so horribly outraged at the revelation that her trusted friend, Elena Lincoln, had molested her teenage son. Until he had his own children, I don't think he really understood their purity and their innocence. It must relate back to his pre-Grey life and perhaps his ill-placed guilt about not protecting his mother. In the past, Christian had always maintained that he was a willing participant, not understanding that at his age, he did not have the capacity to consent to a sexual relationship with an adult. Fortunately, the statute of limitations has not run for this crime.
Kids can be so vulnerable to falsehoods and carry them around with them for years. My poor Fifty. I know that this trial has been painful, embarrassing, yet cathartic. He now understands that Elena was never his friend.
Preparing for trial was grueling for Christian, reliving the chronology of the seduction and the specific sex acts in front of a group of strangers. The mock cross-examinations by the prosecutor's office took weeks. Fortunately, Dr. Flynn was allowed to be present and he often debriefed and counseled Christian afterward.
"I think he's crossed the precipice, Ana," Flynn reported at our last encounter. "Not only has he gained insight into his own molestation, he has true empathy for the other victims of Elena."
"I am so glad to hear that. Thank you so much for all you have done for him," I say, as both of my hands envelope his right hand.
"We have even brainstormed some ideas about starting a foundation or support group to assist victims like Christian. He is such a generous man and I know that he wants to share this new-found mental freedom that the justice system has given back to him."
I smile.
"That would not surprise me. He is a good man, Flynn."
"All rise," the bailiff commands, then he escorts the jury back into the courtroom. Elena turns to look at a few individuals that I do not recognize on the front row. Grace and I hold hands.
The judge asks the jury foreperson to read the verdict.
I hold my breath and give Grace's hand a squeeze.
"In the first count: we the Jury find the Defendant, Elena Lincoln, guilty of the crime of First Degree Rape of a Child, a Class A Felony …"
My head falls to my chest in utter relief and I tune out the rest, although I later learned that she had been found guilty in each count.
Having been admonished to keep emotions in check by the judge, Grace and I quietly hug and I assess her reaction. She had felt so guilty that she hadn't known.
How could she? Christian was always so secretive and guarded. There was no way that she could have known that her good friend was molesting her son. The thought is unfathomable!
As soon as possible, Grace and I scurry from the courtroom. I did not want to see Elena's face. I am still angry at her and would like to do grave bodily injury to her. But, she will get what is coming to her. The judge said that she would be sentenced in two weeks.
Taylor called Christian from outside the courtroom with the verdict. I am now in the back of the Audi SUV being driven back to our home on Puget Sound.
I wonder what kind of mood he will be in when I get home.
The kids are asleep and I smell something wonderful, something Italian, wafting from the kitchen. I know that he made it because Gail only comes in three times a week, and she is off today.
Fifty comes up from behind me and wraps his arms around me and kisses my ear.
I turn and kiss him softly on the lips. He is smiling. He looks oddly joyful.
"Smells great," I praise him.
"I had an excellent teacher," he retorts.
"I have drawn you a bath," his eyes widen, a brow rises slightly.
"Sounds great. Join me?" I ask, already knowing the answer.
He follows me to the master suite. I walk into our palatial closet and slowly peel off my pencil skirt and blouse. In my lacy push-up bra and thong with thigh-high stockings, I catch Christian lustfully ogling me. I grab the patterned grey tie from among his hundreds of ties on his valet.
The wicked Grey grin appears.